Salmon is a commonly and easily cured fish, but what’s special about curing salmon is that the process can introduce other flavors. Then, when cured and sliced very thin, the fish has a delicious flavor and appealing texture. Panzano chef Elise Wiggins uses it as a pizza topping.

Traditionally, the salmon is packed in a mixture of salt and sugar and cured for one to three days, depending on its thickness.

Home-cured salmon is very easy to do, and it’s a treat for people who love salmon. Be sure to start with very fresh, preferably wild, salmon with brightly colored, firm flesh that smells clean and appealing.

One 2- to 3-pound salmon fillet in one piece, no thicker than 1½ inches, skin on, pinbones removed

¼ cup Pernod

1 fennel bulb, with stalks and leaves, thinly sliced

½ cup fennel seeds, toasted (see Note below)

2 tablespoons white peppercorns, toasted and cracked (see Note below)

Directions

Mix sugars and salt well. Sprinkle half of the mixture over the bottom of a nonreactive pan or baking dish just large enough to hold the salmon.

Pan size is important, because the fish will release a lot of liquid, forming, in effect, a highly seasoned brine in which it will cure; and you want the brine to cover as much of the fish as possible. (If you don’t have the right-size pan, you can use aluminum foil to wrap the fillet in an enclosed package; the salt won’t have enough time to react with the foil, so that is not a problem.)

Place the salmon on the salt mixture. Sprinkle both sides of the fish with the Pernod, then cover with the remaining salt mixture. Layer the sliced fennel over the top, followed by the fennel seeds and white peppercorns. Cover with plastic wrap (or enclose completely in the foil).

Place a pan on top of the salmon and weight it: A few canned goods will do the trick, as will a brick — try to use 4 to 8 pounds. (The idea is to speed up water loss from the salmon by pressing it out, so the more evenly the fish is pressed, the better.) Refrigerate for 48 hours, redistributing the cure ingredients as necessary over the salmon once about midway through the curing. The salmon should be firm to the touch at the thickest part when fully cured. If it still feels raw and squishy, cover and leave in the cure for 24 more hours.

When the salmon is fully cured, discard the fennel and spices, rinse it well under cool water, and pat it dry. To store it, wrap in butcher’s paper or parchment paper and refrigerate. The salmon will keep for 3 weeks in the refrigerator; rewrap in fresh paper if the paper becomes too wet.

Note: To toast peppercorns, or any whole spices, heat them gently in a small dry skillet until they begin to release their fragrance, a few minutes. They can also be toasted in a 300-degree oven for 5 minutes or so.

Fresh Bacon

Traditionally, once cured, bacon is hot-smoked to a temperature of 150 degrees, then cooled and sliced. Because most people don’t own smokers, we suggest roasting the cured bacon in a low oven to that same temperature, which will take about two hours. Alternatively, you can grill the cured belly very slowly over indirect heat for a deeper smoky flavor.

If you intend to slice your bacon and cook it in strips, the sweeter cure is better. If you intend to use the bacon for a variety of other preparations (lardons in a coq au vin or frisée salad, chunks in a tomato sauce, julienne in a carbonara), you may want to take your cure in the more savory direction. Makes 2½ to 4 pounds; 12 to 16 servings. From “Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing,” by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn (W.W. Norton, 2013).

Ingredients

One 3- to 5-pound slab pork belly, skin on

About ¼ cup basic dry cure (see recipe at right)

OPTIONAL, FOR SWEETER BACON, ADD:

½ cup maple syrup or ½ cup maple sugar or packed dark brown sugar

FOR MORE SAVORY BACON, ADD:

5 smashed cloves of garlic

3 crushed bay leaves

1 tablespoon black peppercorns, partially cracked with the bottom of a heavy pan or side of a knife

Directions

Trim the belly so that its edges are neat and square. Spread the dry cure on a baking sheet or in a container large enough to accommodate the belly. Press all sides of the belly into the cure to give it a thick uniform coating over the entire surface.

Place the belly in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag or a covered nonreactive container just large enough to hold it. The pork will release a lot of liquid as it cures, and it’s important that the meat and the container are a good fit so that the cure remains in contact with the meat. The salty cure liquid that will be released (water leached from the pork by the salt) must be allowed to surround the meat for continuous curing. The plastic bag allows you to redistribute the cure (technically called overhauling) without touching the meat, which is cleaner and easier. Refrigerate the belly for seven days, flipping the bag or meat to redistribute the cure liquid every other day.

After seven days, check the belly for firmness. If it feels firm at its thickest point, it’s cured. One week should be enough time to cure the bacon, but if it still feels squishy, refrigerate it for up to two more days. (Belly from a factory-raised hog may be thin, only an inch or so; belly from a farm-raised hog, always preferable, may be as thick as 3 inches. The thicker the belly, the longer it will take to cure.

Remove the belly from the cure, rinse it thoroughly, and pat it dry with paper towels; discard the curing liquid. It can rest in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days at this point.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Put the belly in a roasting pan, preferably on a rack for even cooking, and roast until it reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees, about 2 hours; begin taking its temperature after 1½ hours. It will have an appealing roasted appearance and good aroma, and it will feel firm to the touch. Remove the rind or skin, now, when the fat is still hot, using a large, sharp chef’s knife.

Allow the bacon to cool to room temperature (try a piece now though, straight out of the oven—it’s irresistible; remember that end pieces may be a little more salty than the rest). Once it is cool, wrap well and refrigerate.

When the bacon has chilled, slice off a small piece, gently cook, and then taste for flavor and seasoning. If the bacon has cured too long and is too salty, it’s unfortunate but fixable; blanching the bacon in simmering water for 1 minute before cooking it will reduce the salt content considerably. Blanched bacon also tends to crisp up especially well, and lardons are best blanched before being sautéed, for the same reason, regardless of salt content. If you will be using the bacon in stews, though, you don’t need to blanch; just be cautious when seasoning the stew.

Refrigerate again until ready to use. The bacon will keep for up to two weeks refrigerated. If you don’t plan to use it all during that time, cut it into slices, lardons, and/or chunks, wrap it well, label and date it, and freeze for up to three months.

Basic Dry Cure

This cure can be used to make any kind of cured product, but it is especially fine with pork. Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn prefer to use dextrose, a refined corn sugar, rather than table sugar because it is less sweet and, because the grains are very fine, it dissolves more easily and therefore has a more uniform distribution. But granulated sugar is fine, too.